Sears and Roebucks

he's smoking

a cigarette and coughing

as he sits

on his front porch.

i miss Sears and Roebucks,

he says

out of nowhere.

i used to buy everything.

there.

from tires to dungarees.

my mother's house

was ordered

from their catalogue.

we used to get clothes

there,

do all our school shopping

for the kids,

and at Christmas

they sold trees.

Santa Claus would sit

next to the escalator

and our

kids would hop up on

his knee.

my fridge and my washer

and dryer are all Kenmore.

my vacuum cleaner too.

they don't make

em like that anymore.

and if they broke down,

Sears would send a man out

to fix them.

he crushes his cigarette

under his shoe,

then lights another one

as a big blue truck pulls up

on the street.

Amazon.

my wife, he says. we get

a package nearly everyday.

she don't feel the same as

i do about

old Sears.